It might be hard to believe, but we’re more than halfway through the year, preparing to start another fall semester or quarter, and excited about the possibilities ahead…

At PeopleAdmin, we’re especially excited because we feel we still have so much to offer you this year — new and better ways to help you attract, develop, motivate, and retain productive, engaged faculty and staff.

Because, as you’ve told us, that is the key to advancing your academic mission and student achievement.

Earlier this year we introduced Analytics, Onboard, and other new solutions and enhancements to SelectSuite®, making it the most innovative talent management system available for higher education. We’ve strengthened partnerships with HERC, CUPA-HR, and others to bring you valuable insights into such topics as diversity, performance management, FLSA, adjunct faculty, and compliance. We’ve supported you with greater opportunities to learn through user groups and new and improved educational and training channels such as New & Next webinars, Hear It from a Peer, and PeopleConnect, our customer conference held just last month.

And, we set out on a mission this year to deliver to you an amazing customer experience …
That mission continues, along with our commitment to bring you even more innovation, greater support and deeper insights in the second half of 2016.

As always, thank you for your business and partnership. We rely on your feedback, so please don’t hesitate to contact your representative, our support team or me with questions you may have or comments. We are always eager to hear from you.

Take this survey to inform your higher education peers and help enhance your PeopleAdmin solution

Your feedback about your PeopleAdmin solution and experience is powerful — it can help others in similar roles make better decisions about talent management solutions and contribute to the mission of higher education, even beyond your college or university.

As a valued customer, we’d like to invite you to share your experiences with us and thousands of software buyers through this short TrustRadius survey.

“This survey is different than our internal surveys and the Community Ideas page because TrustRadius reviews are read by more than 175,000 visitors per month,” said Katy Smith, senior market research analyst at PeopleAdmin. “Because the information is available to the public, it helps other higher education institutions navigate the software selection process by hearing first-hand accounts from actual solution users.”

‘SelectSuite is modern, robust and connected’

At the University of Kentucky (UK), embracing cutting-edge technology for talent management isn’t new, but there is a renewed commitment to getting the most out of SelectSuite® now that Analytics is available.

“We’re really excited now about Analytics, to be able to get the information and then build our own reports,” said Alex Ortiz, compliance coordinator at UK in Lexington, Kentucky. “It’ll allow us to dig deeper into our data and better predict what’s going to happen, see our trends with certain postings and see how we can make better suggestions to our departments for the postings.”

Now that UK has successfully transitioned from 5.8 to SelectSuite, Alex and his team plan to further improve efficiency and strengthen strategic partnerships between human resources and other departments using Analytics.

“We have a lot of requests for data,” Alex said. He went on to explain that accommodating reporting requests from the equal employment opportunity (EEO) office, police department and other teams throughout campus will be easier with Analytics.

See more about UK’s journey toward improved efficiency and stronger internal partnerships in this short video.

Also, see the story Colorado State University, University of Arkansas quickly uncover new insights with SelectSuite® Analytics in this edition.

“Awesome sauce! This is my first time using the chat support feature, and I sure am glad that it was a success. This just made my day. Thank you for your assistance. I truly appreciate it.”

“PeopleConnect gave me a sense of satisfaction and renewed faith in PeopleAdmin. It was a time to reacquaint myself with the product that TSU had purchased and see the opportunity for expansion of services. You made it happen.”

– Linda Spears, director of HR, Tennessee State University

Colorado State University, University of Arkansas quickly uncover new insights with SelectSuite Analytics

‘Being able to just log in to the system and get that information instantly was great’

As higher education talent management professionals increasingly rely on electronic processes, they are collecting more and more data. But finding meaning in all that data — and then taking strategic action from it — isn’t nearly as simple as collecting it.

“I think a lot of people understand the importance of data, but they don’t know how to use it,” said Chris Mullen, assistant director for recruitment and selection, office of equal opportunity at Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, Colorado.

“I was so excited last year when I heard about SelectSuite Analytics,” said Shannon Phillips, assistant director of technology and compensation specialist at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. “I wanted to be one of the first ones to get it.”

She got her wish. Shannon’s and Chris’ universities both participated in the beta testing of SelectSuite Analytics — and they said the results were impressive.

“Analytics provides you with dashboards that are easy to follow, easy to see and responsive in real time, so there’s no moving around the data trying to figure out what goes where,” Chris said. “It’s right there the minute you click on it.”

Shannon agreed. “It’s just so amazing to have the data right there at your fingertips, where you don’t have to go and spend three weeks massaging it to get it in a presentable format.”

The easy access to information quickly benefited them both. For Chris, the ability to form a narrative was the most impressive result.

“I want to tell a story with the data,” Chris said. “I think that’s huge.”

He’s already been able to tell valuable stories about his university’s performance to colleagues and university leaders.

“I can show them how many quality applicants we have, which departments are having a more difficult time attracting applicants, and what time of year we get the most applicants,” Chris said.

Shannon, on the other hand, has most enjoyed the ability to quickly identify areas for improvement.

“We have a 6 percent goal for our veteran and disabled hiring initiative on campus, and according to this data, we’re at 4 percent,” Shannon said. “That’s not something we had to spend time to figure out.

“Being able to just log in to the system and get that information instantly was great,” she added. “Why would you not want a system that you can just log in to and instantly get the information you need?”

To see how you can benefit from Analytics, contact your PeopleAdmin rep and request a demonstration, or visit our website.

Social recruiting is a powerful tool for finding qualified candidates. And now, with SelectSuite’s new social recruiting features, it’s easier than ever to engage both active and passive job seekers online.

“All higher education customers now have the ability to post jobs to their own Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter pages,” said Jonah Schrowang, product owner, SelectSuite® applicant tracking. “In addition, applicants can now create their SelectSuite accounts by using their LinkedIn profile. This newly released functionality allows customers to easily advertise their job openings directly from SelectSuite ATS to their social media pages and simplifies the application process for job applicants.”

Once postings are advertised on LinkedIn, interested applicants can log in using LinkedIn to access and auto-fill SelectSuite profile data with information from their LinkedIn profiles. During the first month this functionality was live, more than 70,000 applicants logged in with LinkedIn and about 15 percent of all applicants came from LinkedIn.

View the infographic to learn more about social recruiting and check out these new features that help you reach more candidates and simplify recruitment and application processes:

Resume parsing. This recently available tool simplifies the applicant experience by transferring information in an applicant’s resume into SelectSuite, eliminating the need to manually enter contact information, job history and other time-consuming fields.

“As a job-seeking candidate, I want the application process to be as easy as possible,” wrote one applicant in a survey. “I have taken the time to build an extensive resume of my experience and qualifications, now I have the ability to use my resume to complete my application online.”

New mobile-friendly designs for applicant portal. SelectSuite customers can choose between four responsive designs that are mobile device-friendly and deliver a modern, flexible and branded look to applicant portal pages.

The redesigned posting-specific report configuration tool has an improved user experience for report configuration. The new design is more intuitive and displays all reports on one page, eliminating the need to toggle between position types.

What you need to know about new FLSA changes

Our top 4 resources to help your college or university prepare

Changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) go into effect in about four months, and failure to comply with the new regulations could be costly for your institution and put you at risk of losing valued employees. Adequate preparation, of course, is the key to maintaining compliance.

But launching preparations now also has another benefit: It can help position your HR team as a strategic partner throughout your college or university.

Below are four FLSA resources — created specifically for higher education institutions — that will help jumpstart your preparation efforts right now:

View event presentation slides and see how HR leaders are focusing on innovation and new possibilities in higher education

When PeopleAdmin customers collaborate, incredible things can take shape … including a brighter future in HR.

That’s exactly what occurred at PeopleConnect last month as more than 250 customers came together to network, share challenges, and learn about new possibilities — and current opportunities — in talent management.

“I think HR’s biggest opportunity is to find efficiencies in what they’re already doing,” said Chris Mullen, assistant director of recruitment and selection in the office of equal opportunity at Colorado State University. “Those efficiencies could then give us time to think about the bigger picture: How do we use big data? How do we rethink what we do to get a more diverse applicant pool, then hire better people and predict if they’re going to be successful?

And during the event’s general session, Chief Technology Officer Chris Berry expressed a similar mission while presenting an overview of plans to improve existing solutions and deliver new tools.

“Talent management across campus will get a whole lot better with Analytics, Records and Onboard, but we’re not stopping there,” she said. “Next, we’re going to make search committee members’ lives easier and give you more of the tools you need to make informed decisions, and reach and manage more candidates.”

Don’t miss your chance to be a part of next year’s user conference, April 2-5, 2017, in Austin, Texas. Save the date now and stay tuned for additional details, coming soon.

‘I just really like helping customers and getting them where they want to go’

Brad Shoup, customer support specialist, is developing a fan base among PeopleAdmin customers. “I have to rave about him. He’s amazing,” said Shannon Phillips, assistant director of technology and compensation specialist at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

It’s Brad’s dedication to solving customer problems — no matter what it takes — that customers find most impressive. If he doesn’t know the answer, he’ll work with others within the organization to track down a solution.

“PeopleAdmin is a team,” Brad said. “The working relationship we have with our customers has given us a wealth of expertise in current best practices, and we owe it to our customers to make sure we’re using our collective abilities to the fullest.”

Here’s some insight into why Brad is so passionate about his work…

Q. How long have you been with PeopleAdmin?“Two and a half years.”

Q. What made you decide to work here?“Robert Carrillo (a premium support specialist) referred me. He had great things to say about PeopleAdmin and the work he was doing, so I applied immediately.”

Q. What do you like most about your job?“The ability to take our product and our knowledge and convert that into real, immediate benefits for the folks behind the scenes. Anytime I can help someone reduce time-to-fill or paperwork or just labor … that’s great. I just really enjoy helping our customers and getting them where they want to go.”

Q. What’s your biggest opportunity when providing customer care?“Some of our customers have processes that are highly specific to them, and I want to make sure our solutions are working with their processes to help them reach their goals. In these cases, I have to perform due diligence about what’s being requested and why it’s needed.

“That’s our focus, and that’s what we are here for. We want to understand the ‘why’ so we’re providing excellent solutions both now and going forward. The team we have prides itself on partnering with our customers to get everyone — hiring staff, applicants and employees — to a better place.”

Q. Using only three words, how would you describe our customers?“Thorough, knowledgeable and resourceful.”

Q. PeopleAdmin wants to provide every customer with an amazing customer experience. What does that mean to you?“It means bringing our knowledge about best practices and the capabilities of the solution; it’s gathering all the information, informing customers of all options, and providing timely and open communication every step of the way.”

Compiling, tracking, and reporting on faculty via paper processes is never ideal. But for many institutions, it feels like the only option for institutions. Going digital is a process and requires planning and effort. The long-term benefit though is a simplified entry point, a self-sufficient system, API integrations and a simple and accessible platform for all parties from IT to faculty and staff.

It was wonderful to host and connect with our customers at PeopleConnect 2019. If you joined us in Austin, thank you! If you missed the conference, we had a great three days with 250 higher education peers who came together to learn, network, and share new and exciting opportunities to advance the missions of research, teaching, and service. They made our annual customer event a huge success!

Advancing the higher education ecosystem is a challenge faced by administrators and educators all over the world. Higher education institutions today are responsible for many critical outcomes. In addition to student success, there is a renewed focus on the recruitment and retention of faculty, as well as the setup and administration of organizational systems powering human capital management.
These pressures in higher education create dysfunctional systems and processes causing a mission gap and lack of alignment among teams, leadership, and the overall institution.

Properly managing position reclassifications helps ensure an institution’s position descriptions are accurate in relation to one another — but to maintain accurate records, human resources teams must carefully monitor reclassification requests, especially when they’re required for compensation increases.